BostonSportsMedia: 1510ESPN domain names registered

[raccoonradio]

A post on a different messageboard says that some domain names relating to ESPN at 1510
have been registered, though Boston Sports Media Watch says that it could be "proactive
or wishful thinking". WWZN's Anthony Pepe says nothing is happening...

...yet?

A post I put up on 8/13 here said that acc to K. Vahey, the Krafts were thinking of
getting 1510 and putting ESPN and Revs soccer on there. But they had concerns
about the signal. Take note though that ESPN started on 850 in Oct. If there are
one year contracts...

ESPN has to be glad 850 is running them overnights but what about other shows, etc.?
Is it poss. ESPN could stay aligned with WEEI (baseball playoffs coming) but also air
reg talk shows, etc., on WWZN?

It could be, again, just a proactive move or wishful thinking but who knows.\

http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/2010/09/espn-radio-on-1510

BSMW's Bruce Allen finds it hard to believe that after "all the hype" of the ESPN/WEEI
connection, this would happen, but hey if ESPN wants it daytime or weeknight shows to
be aired, even on a weaker signal... ?

http://1510espnboston.com

http://espn1510boston.com

[Wbzfm2010]

yea but look what happened on 890???  the signal is even worse for 1510???  maybe if kraft does buy it he could upgrade it and make it a a good station, but why 1510 go after an fm signal philly does it 97.5 the fanatic and put jim rome etc maybe entercom would be willing to part with 97.7 or gm part with 96.9  since there not doing too good with ratings or maybe a lma deal?? 

[raccoonradio]

1510 may not be too bad in some areas, though def. some weakness at night etc It's been said not much could be done for 1510 though. What FMs could it wind up on? Don't know about the
97.7 scenario

Greater may be doing OK with 96.9 (at least ratings wise, don't know about $$), better than
RKO maybe. ESPN 680 anyone? Though they still have the contract for Finneran, but imagine
a mostly sports station but with Howie as the non-sports PM drive guy*--though again Entercom would be competing against its own 850, so...

*--like with some stations that do "Imus in the morning, rock all day" or "Imus in the morning,
then sports"

[LAUROJRM]

all you have good ideas, and it all sounds good. I don't want to mess anyone's ideas up.

This is just an idea, nothing to hurt no one. I just think, 850am, instead of ESPN, I think they should've put "Sporting News Radio". Because, "Sporting News Radio" 's presentation sounds more (attractive-Jingles, Promo's, Rejoins after commercial break and so on...). Their product sounds more attention grabbing. Some of their hosts sounds good to me, and very listenable with good Sports Topics. For a (famous) station like 850am, I think (personnally) they should've put that on from the begginning instead of ESPN. Don't get me wrong, ESPN is great and their Baseball Games are great. I just think "Sporting News Radio" is a little more attention grabbing and will grab the average listenner's attention better than ESPN. That's just my thought, nothing to hurt no one

Anyways, I like you all ideas

[raccoonradio]

SNR is on 1510 part time as part of a multi-split-personality station that has prog talk,
wrestling, SNR, Red Sox in Spanish, etc Prob only a few hrs though, as I said when I noted
on one Sunday that one min. it was Red Sox postgame in Spanish then when I tuned back
in a "Sporting News...flash!"

ESPN does have some play by play stuff like baseball playoffs. Even if Sox don't make playoffs
I'd like to hear it. Last year 1510 picked up some of the ESPN MLB playoff coverage
(WEEI placed it there to clear it!)
btw ESPN, Fox Sports, and SNR are all on satellite radio if you so chose to get one.

Somehow ESPN is thought of as a better known name, no doubt due to the TV network

[DToTheJ]

My question is, if this deal goes down, what becomes of the fate of one R. G. Stair?

SNR is on 1510 part time as part of a multi-split-personality station that has prog talk,
wrestling, SNR, Red Sox in Spanish, etc...

Isn't progressive talk sometimes considered to be wrestling? 

[thirdendorsed]

BSMW's Bruce Allen finds it hard to believe that after "all the hype" of the ESPN/WEEI
connection, this would happen, but hey if ESPN wants it daytime or weeknight shows to
be aired, even on a weaker signal... ?

Here's another example of how the bloggers and commenters get an idea in their heads that has nothing to do with reality and continually repeat it as gospel.  The story was, WEEI was going to go to FM and abandon the AM frequency to ESPN Radio. One would have to be either mentally deficient or a career board-op to come up with the scenario that Entercom would actually create a second challenger to its major market franchise on a major market signal.

Bruce Allen should check the hype.  Most of it was unfounded then, and is unfounded now and despite his self-proclaimed position as a watchdog of sports media, he couldn't tell B.S. when he saw it.

[raccoonradio]

When that rumor came up I pounced on it, loving the idea that I could poss. hear the Red Sox games live at work, but eventually even I woke up to the fact that Mike is low budget but
makes money, gets good ratings, and why would they change it?

WEEI does have a lot of listeners but there are also a lot of people who might like the "variety
hits" format Mike has. In some cases, such stations are just afterthoughts...we got nothing else
to put on there, so let's do the computer. Maybe we'll break even or be a loss-leader. But guess
what: Mike's ratings, at least the 6+ ones I get to see, are not all that bad, and they appeal
to various demos. WEEI on 93.7 would be nice but Entercom must like Mike.

And...why would they create competition? Probably quite true, although I think it has happened.
I think in Cle. Craig Karmazin had one WEEI-like station at 850, WKNR, and they put an ESPN
format on a weaker station he owned, but I think later he changed his mind and WKNR became
a blend of local _and_ ESPN....Oops, actually I guess Son Of Uncle Mel (Cousin Craig?)
has WKNR "ESPN Cleveland" _and_ "ESPN-KNR2" on AM 1540...

http://www.espncleveland.com/

If Entercom DID want to have a full time ESPN station on AM they could buy or rent 1510
and make it mostly local on 850, and national ESPN (English? Eng days, Sp. nights?) on 1510.
But would they want to take listeners away from WEEI?

[OhioMediaWatch]

How it worked out in Cleveland was this:

1) Craig Karmazin's Good Karma bought WABQ/1540, a then-gospel daytimer (format ended up on east suburban 1460), and turned it into "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540", poaching the network from then-Salem owned WKNR/850.  WKNR had to turn to Fox Sports Radio, and even ran Steve Czaban (now at SNR) in AM drive.

2) Karmazin then turned and bought WKNR from Salem, and went into an immediate LMA.

3) After the WKNR deal closed, Good Karma brought ESPN back to 850, and pushed FSR back to 1540.

However, 1540 (in its current incarnation as WWGK) has always cleared ESPN's midday programming, such as Colin Cowherd and whatever ESPN is running in early afternoons - Scott Van Pelt?

850 goes local after "Mike & Mike", all the way until 10 PM now, except, of course, for Jim Rome.  The popular local midday show hosted by Fox 8's Tony Rizzo - which is heard filling in for Rome from time to time - moved up to a 9 AM start, bumping the last hour of "Mike & Mike" to - you guessed it - 1540.  1540 is now calling itself "ESPN 1540, KNR2", though it still carries FSR's programming from afternoon drive-on.

This all has nothing to do with Boston, but you brought it up    I don't know if WEEI creates "EEI2" or not.  I know there was that speculation that they'd do it on 850, and move the main station to FM, but as I recall, Entercom has no FMs that they would be inclined knock off for a new home for WEEI.

[raccoonradio]

Thanks for the summary, great job (I had read about some of these things on your blog--including the mention of some kind of setup in Milwaukee, or was it Cle., where ESPN was on one station
days and another nights due to a daytimer or reduced power situation? Karmazin involved..) And you're right about the Entercom situation for now at least